Can feeder



F. BURKART.

CAN FEEDER.

IUPHCATION FILED JAN-18. I92].

Patented Mar. 7,1922.

ilhll'l'lili @PATENT OFFICE...

FRANCIS BUB-KART, 0.? BROOKSTON, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR 0F TWO-EIGHTHS T0 JOHN C. I-IALSTEAID AND EMDRY P. BRACKNEY, BOTH 0F BROOKSTOLLINDIANA.

GAIN FEEDER.

Application filed January 18, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS Bn'nimnr, a citizen of th United Etates, residing at Brookston, in the county of White and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Can Feeders, oi which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines or guiding devices for feeding cans to filling chines used in canning factories, but it may be used for feeding cans to other kinds of machines to which the cans are required to be fed one by one intermittently; and it consists in the novel construction and combination of the parts hereinafter fully described and claimed whereby one can feeder is adapted to feed cans to two separate machines, the said cans being fed to the two machines alternately.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a can feeder constructed according to this invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section through th can guide, taken on the line 22 in Fig. 1, and showing also the tappet mechanism.

The filling machines generally used in canning factories are provided with inclined can guides for the empty cans to roll down, so that they come under the filling devices one after another, and the empty cans are supplied intermittently. In carrying out the present invention two similar filling machines are provided with a single main can guide having branches leading to the two filling machines, and an empty can is fed to one machine while a can is being filled in the other machine.

The main can guide or runway l is arranged at a predetermined acute-angle with the horizontal, the angle shown being about 12. This Inain guide has a downwardly curved portion 5 at its lower end. and one branch guide 6 is connected to this curved portion, and is preferably arranged at about the same angle with the horizontal as the main guide and in th same general direction.

The other branch guide 8 has a curved portion 9 at its upper end which is connected to the curved portion 5 of the main guide, and which forms a continuation of it. The branch guide 8 is arranged at substantially the same angle with the horizontal as the main guide 45, but it is inclined downwardly Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. '7, 1922.

Serial No. 438,143.

in the reverse direction. The main guide and its branches are of any approved con struction or cross-section, and the cans 13 are arranged to roll down them on their sides. The extreme end portion of each branch, which is not shown, is twisted around so that the cans 13 are delivered to the filling machines in a vertical position, as is usual in can guides of this sort.

The curved upper end portion 9 of the lower branch guide 8 has a pocket 10 at its point of junction with the main guide. and this pocket is of about the same size as tl e diameter of the cans, and it projects laterally of the concave sides of the curved portions. The curved portions and the pocket 10 form a substantially vertical passage where they are connected together, and this vertical passage may be very shore as shown, or it may be of greater length.

The lower branch guide 8 is provided with a can stop 12, which is preferably arranged closely under the pocket 10 where. the guide is substantially vertical. It may however be arranged at other points in the length of the lower branch. guise, and it is preferably. arranged at a point where the branch guide is substantially vertical. so that it may operate to the best advantage. This stop is formed of a curved arm 14; which is pivoted to the guide by a pin 15, and which projects through a slot or other opening in the side of the guide. This arm is pressed inwardly by a spring 16 or other approved means, so that it retains the can which engages with it, and prevents the can from descending in the branch guide 8. The upper branch guide 6 does not require to have any stop on account of the preferred angle at which it and the main guise are arranged.

A cam wheel 18 is provided, and has projections or tappets 19 at its periphery. Thls cam wheel is mounted in any suitable bearings, and is revolved by any approved driving devices at the same speed as the filling devices of the filling machines. This cam wheel is preferably the rotary filling device of the filling machine, and its projections or tappets 19 are the filling ports which deliver the material to the cans. A lever 20 is pivoted by a pin 21 to any suitable stationary support 22, and one end portion of it is arranged in the path of the rojections or tappets 19. The other endv portion 24 of the lever 20 is operatively connected with the arm 14 by any approved means, such as a rod or cord 25.

The cans revolve in the directions of the curved arrows adjacent to them as they roll down the main guide and its branches. hen a can enters the pocket 10, and is held stationary therein by the can or cans below it and the stop, the can above the can in the pocket rolls off the upper surfaceof the latter, and passes from the main guide 1- down the upper branch guide 6. As the center of the upper can is a little in advance of the center of the lower can in the pocket, in the direction of motion, the upper can is not checked in its passage into the upper branch guide 6.

When the stop is retracted, it permits the can to pass down the branch guide 8, and another can drops into the pocket 10 instead of passing down the branch guide 6. The stop is operated periodically, and the two filling machines are preferably driven at the same speed, so that one can is fed to one filling machine and the next can to the other, and so on. A single storage receptacle is suflicient for the twomachines, and a can is fed to one machine while a can is'being filled by the other machine.

If either machine is stopped, the cans will be fed to the machine which remains in operation. a What I clann'is: 1. A can feeder, comprising a main can guide, and a plurality of branch guides down which the cans pass by gravity, one

of the said branch guides having a laterally projecting pocket, and means for temporarily arresting a can in the said pocket to stop the feed of cans in one branch guide without stopping-the feed of cans down the main can guide. k

2. A can feeder, comprising a main can guide provided with upper and lower branch guides, said lower branch guides having a laterally projecting pocket at its upper part, and means for temporarily arresting a can in the "said pocket so that the can aboveit will roll off it and pass down the upper branch guide.

r 3. A can feeder, comprising a main inclined can guide having a downwardly curved lower end portion, an upper branch can guide connected to the said curved portion and inclined in a similar way to the main guide, a lower branch can guide also connected to the said curved portion and inclined in a "reverse direction to the main guide. said lower branch guide having a laterally projecting pocket at its upper part, and means for temporarily arresting acan in the said pocket so that the can above it will pass from the main guide down the upper can guide.

4. A can feeder, comprising a main can guide provided with upper and lower branch guides, a retractable stop which projects into the path of a can in the lower branch guide and permits a can to passfrom the main guide down'the upper branch guide, and means for retracting the stop periodically to permit a can to pass down the lower branch guide.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

FRANCIS BURKA RT. 

